Blizzard
by 7Seven7
Summary: What happens when a snow storm leaves the SVU team stuck in the precinct? they leave with one more person than they started with, and someones secrets will come out. possibly Casey/Elliot. Felinda. Features a Pregnant Casey with a dash of PTSD. mentions of rape.
1. Chapter 1: Nightmare

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Authors note: hey guys! Okay so this is the story that I've really been excited about! I've got an AMAZING plot and great ideas, but, as always, let me know what you want to see in my story and I'll try to incorporate it in this is written in 3rd person. I guessed at ages: casey-26, liv-38, Elliot-39, fin-40, munch-53, Cragen- 56, warner-37, huang-32. Here's we's go: D

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this. Dick wolf and NBC do.

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Casey shivered as she walked into the 1-6 precinct. "jeese" she thought, "its freezing out there." As the elevator doors opened Casey walked into the bullpen.

"Hey case! I thought you were already on leave?" Olivia said to the red head as she entered the room.

"I was supposed to be on leave as of last week, but I had a few cases I wanted to finish up" Casey replied.

"yeesh case" Elliot said, chiming in, "your 8 and a half months pregnant. Now's not the time to be a workaholic." Elliot gave her a wink to show that his comment was a joke, but it was only to cover his concern for the ADA.

Casey rolled her eyes. "well I'm finished now, and I came to return some files I borrowed."

"well," Olivia said, "you should probably head out before it starts to-"

Olivia was cut off by the entrance of munch and fin, both of which were covered heavily in fluffy, white snow.

"snow." Olivia finished, "we'll I guess mother nature beet you" Olivia added with a laugh.

"yeah, I actually wouldn't leave right now. It's a nightmare out there, case. It's a full on white out blizzard. I wouldn't feel right with you driving right now, especially considering…" john's train of thought trailed off as he gestured to Casey's now quite large baby belly.

"fine" Casey huffed. All the ADA wanted to do was curl up on her couch and try and forget the painful memories that grew with her baby. She was freezing and just wanted to take a nap. But ever since she announced her pregnancy, Elliot, being a five time father, had showered her with pregnancy and baby related tips, as well as older brother like over protectiveness. She knew that arguing with him would inevitably be pointless. She took a seat in munch's chair as he went over to make a fresh pot of coffee. Just as she was sitting Melinda and Huang came out of an interrogation room. They had spent the last 7 hours going over a family's medical records to see if they carried a certain strand of a disease that would prove a defendant guilty. They had found what they were looking for and were now looking forward to going home. As they went to say goodbye to everyone, Cragen stepped out of his office.

"sorry guys, but you're not going anywhere. It's a blizzard out there and the roads are closed down for the time being." Cragen informed them.

"ugg" they simultaneously sighed.

"pull up a chair and grab some hot coffee" munch offered with a grin on his face. Suddenly, everyone turned to Casey when they heard her yell an "oww" under her breath. When she realized that all had been staring at her, she offered an explanation.

"sorry guys. The baby keeps kicking. Hard. In the same spot. Constantly. Casey said with an exasperated expression on her face.

"daddy's little soccer player" munch said adoringly, "how sweet." That earned him a slap from fin. "what?" munch asked innocently.

"_That_ was for putting the image of you and Novak making a baby together in my head." Everyone laughed and Casey blushed, but the mention of the baby's father soon brought everyone to an uncomfortable silence. All anyone knew about the baby's father was that he was a boyfriend of Casey's who'd left her after hearing about the pregnancy. While everyone else thought about a poor pregnant Casey being dumped, Casey flashed back to that night, and was glad that man wasn't in the picture. She shivered a bit at the memory. Olivia rubbed her back lightly, and Casey jumped at the touch. Her reaction had startled everyone, and she realized that she needed to offer them an explanation-fast.

"sorry, I guess I was way into space out mode." Casey offered.

"oh, no, my bad" Olivia responded. Everyone slowly turned back to their personal activities as Casey cursed herself for freaking out like that.

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It was now 11 pm and the roads had still not cleared. The group had been there for 4 hours, just trying to pass the time. Olivia noticed that casey was ready to fall asleep, and gave her captain a look. Picking up on it, he responded.

"well the roads still look pretty bad, why don't we all hit the hay in the cribs" cragen suggested.

"sure, cool, fine" everyone agreed as they headed upstairs. There were more than enough beds to fit the group of 8. The door to the bathroom was on the far left. Melinda sat on the bed closest to the door, followed by Casey, Olivia, Elliot, fin, Munch, Huang, and cragen. It wasn't long before all were fast asleep in their beds. At around 1:30, Melinda, Olivia, Elliot, fin, john, don, and George were awoken by screams.

" Get off me! Stop it! Your hurting me! Help! HELP!" Casey's screamed as she wreathed around in bed. The group went into cop/doctor mode and jumped out of their beds in unison, running to the source of the noise.

"che-che, what are you doing? Get OFF of me! HELP!" casey continued to scream as the tossed in her sleep. The captain ran to the lights and flicked them on as the group processed what was going on. A nightmare. Only a nightmare. Everyone turned to Olivia, unanimously voting for her to awaken the woman.

"casey" Olivia said very gently to the young ADA," casey, it's ok, it's just me, Olivia. Casey?" Olivia shook the ADA a little to wake her up. Unfortunately, the red head could not at first realize that she had been dreaming, and immediately upon waking up, she slapped Olivia across the face and jumped out of her bed, pushing herself into a corner and muttering "don't touch me, don't touch me, don't touch me" to herself. Olivia quickly recovered and knelt down to the ADA.

"case? It's just me, Olivia. I'm not gunna hurt you, okay?"

"Olivia?" casey said beginning to snap out of her trance.

"ya." Olivia replied "you're okay. It was a dream. Only a dream." Casey suddenly realized that 6 other people had also witnessed the event and now she was panic stricken. "what did I say? What do they know?" She thought. She was so embarrassed that she promptly stood up and ran into the restroom, slamming the door behind her.

"what the hell was that?"Elliot asked.

No one had an answer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~X~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Casey sat in the SVU bathroom curled up in as much of a ball as her pregnant stomach would permit. "how could I let myself act like that? HERE! I'm so stupid! I shouldn't have thought about it. I never have nightmare about it when there's other things on my mind. I shouldn't have thought about it. IM SO STUPID!" Casey thought as he svu group again elected Olivia to go talk to her.

"Casey?" she heard Olivia call. "case, it's Liv. Open up honey."

"shit" casey thought to herself. "what now?" she decided to just try to come up with something on the spot.

Olivia opened the door and the pregnant women made an attempt to compose herself. She failed.

"oh-um, hey Liv I just, ahh, sorry" casey said, her face reddening with embarrassment.

"hey" Olivia said in her gentle voice- the one she usually reserved for terrified victims. "whats up?"

Casey shrugged. "just had a nightmare. Sorry for waking you guys up."

"about what?"

"just, nothing"

"it didn't sound like nothing"

No response.

"case? What was your nightmare about?"

Shit. Now she had to think of something on the spot. But she was blanking.

'i-oh-ahh, the baby" she blurted out. They were both confused with her answer.

"what about the baby?"

"that ,um, someone kidnapped the baby. After it was born. And I never got to see it." Casey answered, completely lying through her teeth.

"oh. Anything else"

"no"

"you sure?"

"why"

"when you were yelling, well, um, were yelling about someone hurting you."

"oh"

"so?"

Casey shrugged. "I'm not really remembering all of it anymore."

"casey… just, get some rest. We can talk in the morning."

"I actually think I'm just gunna grab a shower and kick around" casey responded.

"ok. I have some jeans and a tee in my locker if you want then." Olivia offered.

"thanks liv, but I doubt they'll fit" casey said, gesturing to her stomach.

"oh right" Olivia said with a laugh "here, ill just see what I can do" she said with a smile.

"thanks liv"

"no problem"

"tell everyone I'm sorry"

"it's no problem. But I will" Olivia said with a smile


	2. Chapter 2: water

Hey guys! Ok so PLEASE REVIEW! I know this is super short, but if you review then I'll post another long one next!

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Casey stepped out of the shower of the SVU bathroom. She changed into the outfit Olivia had found her: she was wearing the sweatpants she had been wearing before and an NYPD tee shirt that was Elliot's. She changed and walking into the squad room. Warner, munch, and fin had gone back to sleep. Cragen was in his office checking weather reports. Olivia was discussing caseys dream/behavior with huang, the SVU psychiatrist, when casey entered.

"hey" Elliot said from his desk with a warm smile.

"hey" she replied "thanks for the shirt."

"no problem"

Casey let her hands rest on her stomach. Olivia wanted to ask her more about her nightmare, especially since huang needed more to make an actual diagnosis, but she could tell casey wasn't in the mood.

"hows the kicking" Olivia asked

"he or she laid off a little" casey said with a smile.

"your due in what, two weeks?"

"yep"

Olivia smiled. Casey took a seat.

"well, the storms not lighting up. We're stuck here for at least 4 more hours." Cragen said as he exited his office.

"fun" Casey said.

"hey, it gives you some more time to look at my precious face before the baby replaces me" john said as he came into the squad room with fin and Melinda.

"well good morning sleeping beauty" Elliot said to him.

Melinda took a stood behind casey's chair.

"here, take a seat, I actually have to go to the bathroom." Casey said

"thanks" Melinda said.

a few minutes later casey returned and looked at Melinda with a panicked facial expression.

"my, um, water broke"

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	3. Chapter 3: Birth

Authors note: hey guys! Let me know if you want to see any inner office relationships or anything else in this story. Review with your suggestions. Thanks! :D btw, reviews make me type faster and better, so please write some;)

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"Your… what? I thought that you weren't due for another 2 weeks?" Olivia asked worriedly.

"I'm not but it did" Casey replied, twice as worried.

"We've got to get you to a hospital then. Mercy's the closest." Elliot said, taking up his protective nature over Casey.

"We can't El, every road is closed" Cragen said.

"It's alright guys; Huang and I are both doctors so we were both trained on how to handle a childbirth. We can take care of you until the roads clear up. "Melinda said, in a calming voice.

"But what if they don't clear up in time?" Casey asked worriedly.

There was silence in the room for a moment before Melinda spoke up.

"Then the baby will be born here."

Cragen's leadership kicked in and he began giving orders.

"Alright then. Casey, sit down, Melinda and Huang, you're in charge. Fin, go call mercy and have a bus ready as soon as possible. Olivia, Elliot, Munch, and I are gonna do whatever you two tell us." He said looking at Melinda and Huang.

"Okay then, Munch and Cragen, go get some towels or bed sheets; we'll need something soft to keep the baby warm. Olivia, you me and Casey are gonna get her settled in a bed in the cribs" as everyone went out on their assigned duties, Melinda turned to Casey. "Have you had any contractions yet?"

"Not yet" Casey replied.

"Alright. Let's get movin' before the first one comes.

Huang followed Melinda, Casey, and Olivia as they made their way up into the cribs. Once they were there, Casey doubled over in pain.

"Holy Shit!" She yelled as she grabbed her stomach in pain

"Contractions" Olivia and Melina simultaneously said.

They helped Casey into a bed and the contraction was over in about 5 minutes. At that time, Cragen and munch returned with some navy blue NYPD tee shirts.

"There's a box of 'em downstairs. I don't know who's they were, but there ours now" John said with a smile. "how's Case?"

"Fine between contractions" she answered, "and yourself?" she offered jokingly.

"I have had the worst day!" John said in a voice that was mock-seriousness. That earned him a few chuckles and a gentle slap from fin. The group joked around for about an hour while Casey had a few contractions.

"you need anything else?" Fin asked.

"get her some water" Melinda answered.

As Munch and Fin went to get some water and cragen, huang, and Elliot went to go check the roads, the girls were left alone for a while. As Casey's face winced to the pain of another contraction, Melinda noticed something. "Casey, didn't you just contract 3 minutes ago? "

"um, ya" she responded through her teeth.

"oh"

"Why?"

"Casey, do you mind if I check you, to see how dilated you are?"

"Go ahead doc"

Olivia helped Melinda get Casey's sweatpants off and they pulled a sheet that covered from her stomache to her knees and draped over the sides of the bed. She opened her legs and raise her knees.

"oh my" Melinda said

"what?" Casey and Olivia asked.

"um, well, it seems that you're about 9 millimeters dialated."

"NINE?" Casey yelled.

"you'll probably be pushing in about 2 minutes."

Casey's face looked panicked as Olivia pet her hair and tried to console her.

"shhhhh, It'll be okay case"

The men returned as melind explained her discover

"…And I'm having her push on this next contraction"

"mercy said they can get a bus here in half an hour. Could we wait?"

"that could be bad for the baby" Melinda warned

"Alright, I want Cragen, Fin, and Munch behind the bed. Olivia and Elliot, grab a leg and Huang, get over here and help we with the baby" Melinda ordered.

Everyone went to their assigned positions and Melinda spoke up when she noticed that Casey was contracting again .

"alright, you ready case?"

Casey nodded.

"ok, on the count of three I want you to push, ok?"

"ok" Casey replied.

"ok, 1,2-"

"I hate you, but thank you" Casey mumbles. No one could clearly hear what she had said, but they heard her say something.

"what?" Melinda asked

"Oh, ah – nothing"

"alright… so one, two, three"

Casey's face reddened as she pushed as hard as she could.

"I see a head!" Melinda shouted

Casey continued to push as hard as she could.

"George, take her leg. Elliot, grab some tee's."

Huang grabbed Casey's left leg and Elliot reached into the box of soft NYPD tee shirts. Casey was still pushing her hardest as Elliot formed a makeshift blanket out of the overlapped tops.

Casey let out a whimper as Melinda encouraged her on, and Melinda called Elliot over to be ready to grab the baby.

"almost there, case! Almost there! "

Casey gave one more great push as the baby's head and torso came into the world, and Melinda pulled the rest of the child out and threw it into elliot's arms that were holding the makeshift blanket. He smiled down for a moment at the child and whispered "It's a girl" a few stray tears fell from everyone's eyes, as they had just witnessed the miracle that is child birth. They all smiled.

Then it all went to hell in a hand basket.


	4. Chapter 4:shock

Author's note: hey guys! K so just saying chapter 3 was dedicated to Ranowa Hikura since you were my first review and you made me want to write thank you guys so much for all the other great reviews I got, keep 'em comin! Oh, and thank you for the centi/milli meters tip. I laughed when I thought of a baby being born through a 10 mm … you know ;) I also know that it takes more than the like hour I allotted for labor, but the ambulance would have been there a long time ago if she was in labor for like 15 hours, and what's the fun with that? Anyway, if you don't tell me what pairings you like, then I might make some up that you hate, then I'll lose readers, then I'll be sad and stop writing, then the readers I have left will be sad. It's a huge chain reaction so please just let me know what you like. ;) THANKS! Oh and by the way the POV will be switched from 3rd to 1st person for a bit.

~~~~~~X~~~~~~~

Casey~

I sat there, and I heard Elliot's words

"it's a girl"

A girl. A beautiful, precious, baby girl. _My_ baby girl. I already loved her so much Elliot turned to me to let me hold her. She was absolutely beautiful. She had that new-baby smell. I love that smell. That smell took me back to my days of babysitting for my neighbors, the Fullers, when I was 15.

I looked back down at the precious baby and smiled at her.

"Hi baby. I'm your momma. I Love you. Always and forever. I promise. "

A stray tear fell down my face as I looked at my child. Our moment was quickly interrupted by the ring of a cell phone. John quickly answered it.

"Munch. Yeah. Mmhhhmm. Ok. See you then. That was mercy. Bus should be here in 5"

I smiled. I was so at peace with life that that was all I could do- smile. I looked down at my baby again, but something wasn't right. She was fuzzy. I looked up. Everything was fuzzy. The black. It all went black. The, cold. So, so cold. Then, well then I don't know what happened. I was gone. My mind was no longer holding my baby, it was trapped in a sea of darkness. My own personal prison. No escape.

~~~~~x~~~~~~~

Olivia:

I looked down at Casey. I was almost envious of her. I wanted a child so bad. But Casey was my best friend, I'd never me jealous of her, just happy for her. She was already an amazing mother. She was so happy as she looked down at her baby. Then, she changed. She was… confused. The she looked at us with a strange look on her face. Then. Well, I'm not really sure what happened. She fell back, like she was going to take a nap or something. Then her face went blank.

"Casey' I called.

No answer.

"CASEY?"

No response.

Then we notice a stream of blood flowing down her leg. Her arms went limp. The baby slept on her chest. Melinda grabbed her-the baby- and handed her to me. I just froze. But the doc. Took over and started giving orders again. If not for her, case'd be dead by now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~X~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Melinda:

Then I saw the blood. Not good.

I grabbed the baby and handed it to Liv. Then Casey started seizing. Shit. I moved her into a position I was trained to- so she wouldn't swallow her tongue.

"MUNCH? When's that bus showin up?" I called

He peered out the blings of a window and yelled, "HERE! I'll go get em!"

Casey. What the hell was happening?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~X~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elliot:

We stood in the waiting room of the hospital. I hated mercy general. I've met too many vics here to be able to form a happy memory here. Then the doctor entered.

"family of cassie nowvac?"

"its CASEY nOVak."

'yeah, sorry"

Hated him already. He didn't care about her. She was just another chart to sign.

"how is she, doc?" fin asked

"her body went into shock after the baby was born. That's what caused the seizure and the bleeding. She's on some meds to take care of her. I'm just not sure what cause the premature birth. Or the accelerated labor. We're still running tests. She'll be fine though."

Everyone let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm more concerned about the baby"

"Why?" everyone shouted in unison. What had happened to the baby? If something bad happened to her before Casey woke up… I couldn't even think about the was wrong with the baby?


	5. Chapter 5: name

Author's note: this chap will be in third person. I updated my other fanfic today and I wrote that in third person, so I'm kind of in a 3rd person mood ;) anyway, chapter 5

`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`

"what's wrong with the baby?" everyone asked

"well," the doctor began, "does anyone know if the baby was crying when she was born?"

"now that you mention it, she wasn't. I was so caught up in everything else I hadn't even noticed. " Melinda admitted.

"me neither" everyone agreed, in their own variations of the phrase.

"well she had some fluid in her lungs, we had to drain then and we're running tests to check for other problems related to a baby not crying, including mental disabilities."

"excuse me?" Olivia asked "what do you mean?"

"well like I said she had fluids in her lungs, it's very possible that she had a lack of oxygen to her brain, which could have caused brain damage. Also, what was Casey on when she gave birth?"

"a bed in the 'cribs' of our unit. It's like an on call room" cragen replied

"ah. Well I think that on her way out the baby may have cut herself on the footboard. Shes got a staph infection from a cut on her arm. Mostly, staph infections are just minor infections that will cause some irritation of the surrounding skin, but sometimes, it can cause tss, or toxic shock syndrome. There are also many different skin impurities she could get from staphs, so we put her on antibiotics. We're going to be watching her closely in the NICU. But Casey should wake up soon enough. You can see her, but only two at a time."

With that the doctor left the group. Olivia was the first to speak,

"Melinda and Elliot should be the first two. They did the most during the baby's birth."

The group agreed, and Melinda and Elliot entered Casey's room. Like the doctor that Elliot still hated said, she was still asleep. Elliot and Melinda took seats.

"she'll probably be out for a while. He body's had quite the day. But still, I want her to wake up to a familiar face. Huang said it would help her emotionally." Melinda said. Just ask mel finished saying that, Casey began to stir. The two look over at her as her eyes began to flutter open.

"g-guys?" Casey said. She was confused for a minute, but she began to remember the day's events. She looked down at her empty stomach. "oh my gosh! Where's my baby? Is she ok?"

Just as Casey asked that the doctor walked in. he explained everything he had just told everyone else. Then he left. The fact that he said everything so nonchalantly makes Elliot hate him that much more. He was also pretty pissed at how little the doctor cared about her feelings. He basically just told her that her kid might be really sick and then he just leaves. Jerk.

"case?" Elliot asks.

"case?" she just has a blank stare on her face.

"let her absorb everything. This is a lot to handle" Melinda whispers.

"case is you want us tocall your family-"

"no!" Casey yelled.

"wh-um, ok. We wont"

"sorry I just… they don't know. About the baby."

There was an awkward sort of silence broken by Melinda.

"speaking of the baby, do you have a name?"

"Cara Bridget Novak. Cara means loved. I always want her to feel loved. Bridget means strength. She'll make it through this because she's so strong. Her name should reflect that. I'm also found of saint bridget. That was the church I went to when… that's a church I go to."

"that's a beautiful name. your right, she is strong and loved, just like you" Melinda said.

Ok I'm SO SORRY about the long wait! Keep reading and reviewing and I promise o be faster. You like the name? oh, and I kinda of had a hard time writing everything so far, but I have some good ideas and some answers for why Casey's acting so weird, and why she dosent want to see her family.

Now let me just say that writer **Kiss the girl54 **(writer of such INCREDIBLE fanfics as _life, love, and stress_ and _love or stress _) is soooooo incredibly nice for her shout out to me. You are amazing and supportive, and this chapter, as well as next, is dedicated to you


	6. Chapter 6: bonding

_**Author's note~ **_hey everyone! Ok so I should probably be updating my other fanfic, but the reviews I got in one night made me so happy that I grabbed the computer and immediately started writing as for pairings, I will likely be doing some fin/Melinda since I have a lot of reviewers who like that. But I will probably leave it at that (unless someone really wants another pairing) because I agree with Arron008 and feel that, especially in this story, everyone needs to be there to support one another.

vampirePrincess96- well, kinda of. I was on google trying to find illnesses common among newborns. I found a page on staph infections and took random bits and pieces from it.

kandiiKane96- I'm glad you like the name I will try to get some F/M for you ;)

xDeathByCupcakesx- (haha, I like your name ) thank you

Kiss the girl54- ok, seriously, you're all too nice to me thank you so much! You make me want to write more as you know, this chapter is dedicated to you

Casey slept in her bed while fin and Melinda sad at her bedside. Casey had insisted that she didn't need people by her bedside 24/7, but Melinda and Fin offered to spend the night. It was around 2:30 am when Casey began thrashing around in her bed. Fin had left to use a bathroom. Casey was tossing in her bead and screaming at the top of her lungs.

"No! Noooooooooo! Caarrrrraaaaaa!"

"Casey, case, common honey wake up" Melinda said trying to wake up Casey. When she finally woke up, she jumped and sat up in her bed. She found herself in a cold sweat, shaking, and panting; struggling to catch her breath.

"case, huney, you're gonna hurt yourself." Melinda warned,"whats the matter?"

"I h-had a ni-ightmare and h-he t-took h-her" Casey said through tears.

"who took who? Someone took cara?"

"y-yeah"

"who?"

"just…no one." Melinda held Casey for a moment.

"Mel?"

"yes Casey"

"when can I see cara?"

"she's still on her meds in the NICU, and you've got to stay put until your test results come back. "

Casey had a pleading look on her face. She didn't want to have to beg to see her baby, but she'd do whatever it took to see her. Melinda sighed.

"I went to medical school with a doctor on this place's board. I'll see what I can do" Melinda said with a smile.

"thanks mel" Casey said.

"try to get some sleep."

Uhhggg. Sleep. More Sleep meant more nightmares.

Casey walked into the NICU the next morning very excited. She was going to see her baby for the first time since the night Cara was born. Melinda had pulled a few strings, so she and Casey were allowed in the neonatal intensive care unit for a few minutes to see Cara.

"here she is" a nurse whispered to Casey, handing her the child. Casey's face instantly brightened up. The baby completely resembled Casey and only Casey- not the child's father at all. She had dark red locks beginning to sprout from her head. She had beautiful hazel eyes. Cara even had Casey's nose, ears, and naturally red lips.

"Hi cara" Casey whispered.(by the way, the reason they're all whispering is because you have to e really quiet in the NICU)

Casey smiled at the adorable baby for a few moments, when Cara's hand reached out for Casey's face. Casey smiled sweetly at her child and took the small hand into her hand and kissed it. She gently rocked the child for a few minutes. The nurse came back after 13 minutes of quiet bonding and informed Casey that Cara needed her antibiotics. She gave the nurse cara , then she and Melinda stepped out of the NICU and spoke to Cara's docter.

"she's doing really well. Her tests all came back negative. She'll be off of her meds by tomorrow, which is when I'm releasing her. When are you being released?"

"today. They finished my blood work and everything was fine so I'm good to go right after this."

"well I suggest you go home and install a car seat for her so you can bring her home tomorrow."

"thank you so much" Casey said with a smile.

"no problem" the docter replied.

Olivia, Elliot and Casey were at Casey's apartment finishing Cara's room. Elliot was putting her crib together while Casey and Olivia finished organizing Cara's diapers and clothing.

"so when do we get to meet her?" Olivia asked

"she comes home tomorrow so I was thinking of having everyone over tomorrow" Casey replied

"sounds good" Olivia said with a smile.

"done" Elliot said triumphantly.

"nice job" Casey said looking at the light green crib.

"hey case?" Elliot asked

"ya?"

"At the hospital, when mel offered to call some of your family, why did you freak out?"

"oh.." Casey said, looking down. Elliot immediately felt bad for asking,

"You don't have to answer that if you don't want to, I was just curious"

"no, it's fine. See, they, um, well none of my family knew that I was pregnant."

"Oh" Elliot and Olivia both said with astonished and confused looks on their faces.

There was a moment of awkward silence before Olivia broke it.

"how did no one notice?" Olivia asked

"I'm from a small town in Vermont. My only family in new York is my older brother Joey, but he's upstate. I usually go to Vermont for holidays. I did for last Easter, since I wasn't showing yet. I made excuses for why I couldn't go up for other holidays, though, like Christmas, new year's thanksgiving…"

"why?" Olivia asked

"huh?"

"I know it's none of my business, but why didn't you tell your family?"

"It's complicated. I love Cara to death I've known her for not even the better half of a week, but I would already take a bullet for her. She's my life now. But when I first found out that I'd be a single mother, I wasn't so sure that I was going to keep her. You know, through the pregnancy. I'm pro life, but I was terrified she'd look like… him."

"like who?" Elliot asked

"you ex?" Olivia asked

"oh, um yeah. Anyway, I decided the least I could do was have it and put it up for adoption. But if I wasn't going to keep her, I decided there was no reason to tell my family . but when I saw my first ultrasound… Liv, it was amazing. Like nothing I've ever felt before. I heard her heartbeat and I saw her and… suddenly she wasn't a burden, she was a miracle. I loved her so much. But, I don't know, I just never told them."

"well it's not like you can keep her from them" Olivia said with a playful smile

"I know, but I just don't know how to tell them. Plus I'm alone, and I was always Casey the honor student. I don t feel like being Casey the whore."

"case, your not a whore. It's not you or Cara's fault that your ex was a dick" Olivia said hugging Casey.

Casey laughed without humor. "ha. You try telling that to my parents. They're so Catholic they went to church in Hawaii because their honeymoon fell on a Sunday"

"Casey, they love you and they'll love Cara. I'm sure they'll support you no matter what" Olivia said continuing the hug

"El?" Casey asked

"ya?"

"I haven't been to church in a while. They'll baptize a kid without a dad though, right?"

Elliot smiled "I'm sure they will" he assured.

"I was thinking of having her baptized at my childhood church in Vermont. Maybe earn back some points with my family. Do you think you guys could come?"

"of course!" they both exclaimed, smiling.


	7. Chapter 7: calls

_**Author's Note**___ hey guys here's my update. You have ktg54 to thank (that's my nickname for Kiss the girl54) so yeah and I know I promised F/M, I promise they'll get their day in the sun! ;)

_**Disclaimer**___ I don't own any of the following material. The characters are a copyright of NBC/ Dick Wolf. The plot's all mine though

`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'``'

Casey Novak. Casey Tough as nails, won't take shit, justice above law Novak was afraid of this. Calling her mommy.

Although, I suppose this wasn't your ordinary phone call. I mean, calling your _very_ catholic mother to tell her you're having a bastard child is one thing- it becomes a little worse when the child's already been born.

"well here goes nothing." Casey thought as she dialed her childhood phone number. Cara was taking a nap, and now was as good a time as ever to make the call.

_Ring. Ring. Hello?_ Casey heard as listened to into the phone receiver. _Casey, it's your mom. She loves you. Don't be afraid. _She thought to herself.

"Hi mom" Casey said into the phone.

"Casey?"her mom asked surprised. _Jeese_ Casey though, _I __**haven't **__called her in a while!_

"yeah" Casey replied.

"how are you?" her mother asked

"um, I've got some news. Big news."

"well?" her mother said, excited to hear the news, while also a bit worried.

"well, umm, I… you're a grandma." She blurted out

Silence on the other line.

"mom? I haven't seen you in a while cause I was pregnant and didn't know how to tell you. Now you're a grandma. Well, again, since Joey and Mikey and Tommy have kids."

"who's the father?"

Casey took a breath "I'm not with him"

"but who is he?"

"mom, he doesn't matter"

"were you atleast serious with him?"

One more lie wasn't gonna hurt. "ya. We were…" dating wasn't good enough as long as she was lying "engaged. I was going to tell you, but before I could I found out I was pregnant and he broke it off and left."

"well he should be paying child support."

"I'm fine mom. I want him to have nothing to do with her."

"her?"

"ye. Cara Bridget Novak."

"I've always like saint bridget. Did you know she-"

"gave up her beauty so her father wouldn't make her get married and she could join a convent? Ya mom, you sent me to catholic school and the bible classes you hosted for the parish kids. My memories not _that_ bad."

Her mother laughed. Good.

"I was actually thinking she should get baptized at Sacred Heart in Elliston." Casey said.

"Sweetheart that's a wonderful idea! I'm glad to see you're raising her catholic! And father Mathew will be so delighted to see you! And…" her mother continued on about the joys of Catholicism.

"that's great mom, but can you do me a favor? Can you tell everyone up there?"

"sure. I do you one step further, I'll book the baptism and you can stay with your father and I. I'll call Mikey, Tommy, and Luke and see if joey can come up with Amanda and the kids."

"thanks mom. I love you. "

"I love you too Casey. And Cara. I cant wait to meet her."

`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'

"So how was the phone call to your mom?" Olivia asked

"Actually, it went better than you'd expect." Casey replied as she took a picture of baby Cara sitting on Melinda's lap.

"she so sweet! I love babies!" Melinda said as she cooed to the child.

"Yeah, me too" fin said with a smile and a wink that only Melinda could see.

"all right, enough you baby hogger. Give little Cara to her uncle Munch" munch said, stretching out his arms. Casey laughed. Her baby was a hit.

"hi Cara! I'm your uncle munch. I call walking you down the isle some day." He said with a smile.

"please munch you'll be cryin' to hard" fin teased

Munch pretended to wipe away a tear. "I just SO emotional!"

The group was interrupted by the little cries coming from the child in Casey's arms.

"sorry guys, she's hungry. I'll be back in a few" she said taking the baby from Munch.

"can I feed her?" munch asked. He didn't want to give up the baby just yet.

"Not until you grow a pair of breasts" Casey replied with a smile.

Munch's face turned red "oh, sorry I didn't know you were.."

"breast feeding" Casey said, smiling at munch's awkwardness. "don't worry about it. I'll be back."

Casey left the room and the group began talking about random subjects, but of course it wasn't long before they moved onto the subject of the baby.

"speaking of baptism, do you know if liv and I can have next weekend off, cap? " Elliot asked.

"if fin and munch can be on call." He replied.

"sure" they both said "anything for Cara"

"thanks" Olivia, Elliot, and don all said.

"I'm back" Casey announced with the baby in hand.

"my turn" don announced as she handed him the baby.

"so what's the plans for the baptism?" Olivia asked

"it's at 2pm on Saturday but we're heading up Friday and leaving Sunday. After the baptism, my mom's having a party with my intermediate family at the house."

'so your parents and siblings? Doesn't sound too bad." Munch said.

" you make it sound like it's 6 people. It'll be me, Liv, El, My mom and dad, my brothers Joey, Mikey, tommy, and luke. Then there's joey's wife Amanda, Mike's wife Sarah, and Tom's wife Mary Anne, and whatever dumb blonde Luke's currently on. Then there's Joey's girls Kaitlynn and Meaghan and his son Patrick, Mike's sons Edward and Jared, and Tom's kids Christopher, Madelynn and Evalynn, Sean, Liam, and Bree. A grand total of twenty four, but that's assuming she doesn't invite any of my aunts, uncles, or cousins, which she probably will." Casey replied.

"fun" Olivia said sarcastically. She sucked at remembering names.

`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`''`

A/N: here's a table of names/ ages for you

Elizabeth Novak~ Casey's mom – 58

Johann Novak~ Casey's Dad- 65

Joseph Novak~ Casey's big brother- 34

Michael Novak~ Casey's big brother- 30

Thomas Novak~ Casey's big brother- 28

Lucas Novak~ Casey's little brother- 23

Amanda Novak~ Joseph's wife- 33

Sarah Novak~ Mike's wife- 32

Mary Anne Novak~ tom's wife- 29

Destiny ~ the dumb blonde Luke's currently on- 22

Kaitlynn Novak~ Joey's daughter; Casey's niece- 9

Meaghan Novak~ Joey's daughter; Casey's niece- 7

Patrick Novak~ Joey's son; Casey's nephew- 4

Edward Novak~ Mike's son: Casey's nephew-8

Jared Novak ~ Mike's son: Casey's nephew-7

Christopher Novak~ Tom's son: Casey's nephew- 9

Madelynn Novak~ Tom's son: Casey's niece- 7

Evalynn Novak~ Tom's son: Casey's niece, maddie's twin- 7

Sean Novak~ Tom's son: Casey's nephew-6

Liam Novak~ Tom's son: Casey's nephew-4

Bree Novak~ Tom's son: Casey's niece -2


	8. Chapter 8: Elliston

_**Author's Note**___ just so you know, fin and melinda's brief appearance last chapter wasn't all I'm going to do with them, I promise I promised F/M, I promise they'll get their day in the sun! ;)

KtG54- ya it is pretty close to your name he's Czech so it's pronounced Yo- ha- n

_**Disclaimer**___ I don't own any of the following material. The characters are a copyright of NBC/ Dick Wolf. The plot's all mine though

`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'``'

It was 7:30 am, and the group was preparing for their 5 hour drive to Elliston, Vermont. Cara had been awake since 3 in the morning, which was good because it meant that she would hopefully sleep in the car. Casey had her diaper bag, purse, and duffle bag packed and ready to go. Cara was busy playing with an Elmo baby chew toy that Melinda had given her . She wasn't teething yet- thank God- but she still liked to throw the toy as far as she could across the room. _Huh, maybe someday she'll play second base like her mom_ Casey thought. By 7:45 the car was loaded and Elliot and Olivia had eaten the eggs and bacon Casey had made them. Cara was wearing a yellow one piece outfit with a giraffe on it from Fin. _Who knew he had such adorable taste? _She thought to herself as she bundled up Cara for the cold Vermont weather.

"we all set?" Olivia asked.

"yup" Casey replied with Cara's baby carrier/ car seat in hand.

"Ok, so you said the trip takes about 5 hours, so we should be in Vermont by noon. Do you want to stop somewhere around the boarder of Vermont and New York for lunch?" we'll probably reach Elliston by 2:30 ish if we do. " Elliot said, looking at a road map.

"sounds good" Casey said with a smile. She was worried about how everyone was going to react to Cara, but she sure as hell couldn't wait to hug Joey. God, she missed her big brother.

"El, put the damn map away and use my GPS." Olivia scolded

"No need, I mapped out the best route" Eliot said, looking triumphant.

"_I_ mapped out the route Elliot" Casey corrected "with the route you wanted to take, we'd be there by midnight".

"Alright, Alright, so what? I've never been to Vermont before. " he admitted.

"Well, Elliston is _very_ different from New York." Casey told him. With that they were on their way.

By 12:30 PM they reached a nice looking diner called _on the border_, where half of the restaurant was in New York and the other half was in Vermont. They took a picture of Cara sitting on the line, then Olivia and Elliot grabbed a table while Casey took Cara to the bathroom to change her. When Casey returned they began to talk about her family.

"so case, what's everyone like? You know, in you family?" Olivia asked

"well, my mom, who's going to demand you call her Beth, is, as I informed you, super catholic. We might be going to a mass before we leave on Sunday. And saying we have to leave early won't stop her. She'll just make us go to the 6:00 am mass." Casey began.

"hey, I'm fine with a mass, but I'm sure as hell not going to one at 6 am." Olivia said with a chuckle.

"then we'll probably go to either the nine or eleven. My dad is the friendliest person you'll ever meet, but he'll talk about fishing and golf for days on end."

Elliot laughed. "well I should brief myself on fishing and golf then, shouldn't i?"

"probably. He loves to chat up new people. His name is Johann but he'll tell you to call him pap. That's what all his grandchildren call him. Joe and mike are… overprotective. And Tom's just annoying. And I annoy Luke. You should feel free to too, he's fun to annoy. Amanda, Sarah, and Mary Anne, who by the way will hate you if you call her Mary or Annie, are your classic Christian soccer moms, but they're so nice and I love them all to death. Mary Anne's a stay-at-home mom, since she's got 6 kids under the age of ten. Sarah's a nurse at Elliston General, and Amanda teaches second grade at a catholic school in New York. Meggie, Maddie, and Lynnie are all seven and inseparable whenever they're together. Katie and Chris like to wreak havoc, especially against non-family members. you've been warned ."

"I think we can take them" Elliot said with a smile.

"good luck with that Mr. Cocky" Casey said with a wink. "Eddie sometimes tags along with them. Patty and Liam are best friends too. Jerry (jared) and sean are best friends. Bree's two. She usually just walks around and joins random games that the other kids are playing."

The group's food arrived after that. They ate, paid, and were back on the road. They arrive in Eliston just after two pm. Elliot and Olivia were in awe.

"you should see it in autumn. The foliage is beautiful. " Casey said

Elliot and Olivia were taking in the town's beauty. They has snow everywhere. There were beautiful trees everywhere. Oaks, pines, firs, you name it, they had it. It was so… so…. Rural. They passed 167th century houses and old red and white barns. There were trucks and tractors everywhere. They passed a big, picturesque, new Hampshire style while church. Beside it was an old brick building with hand made snowflakes in the windows. Behind it was a large, gated it brick building . on the other side of the church was a while 2 story building.

"that's Sacred Heart parish. On either side of it is Sacred Heart Elementary and Middle School and the rectory. Behind it is the convent. It's the oldest building in town." Casey said.

They passed several more very nice yet very old buildings on their way to Casey's house- The town Library, the town hall, the fire station, the police station, and Sacred heart High school's campus. They finally reached cranberry street and saw the big beautiful houses on it. They finally reached a two story white house that Casey informed them was built in 1754. It had a three car wide, 4 car lond driveway and a farmer's porch complete with rocking chairs.

"this is where I grew up." Casey announced.

"wow." Elliot and Olivia said simultaneously.

They grabbed Cara and left their bags in the car for now. They walked up the steps as Olivia notice something.

"Case, is that your handprint?" Olivia asked looking down at the first step.

Casey laughed "and a print of the side of my face, and Tom's handprint. We were playing tackle football while the cement was drying when I was seven and Tommy tackled me and we both fell into the cement. Liv, never let that stuff dry in your hair."

Olivia smiled.

"Well, here we go." Casey said as she opened the door.

"well look who decided to let us meet our granddaughter. If it isn't New York Novak." An older man with a short gray goatee and gray hair said jokingly as he look at Casey.

"hi Dad" she said with a smile. "well, this is Cara."

"Beth, Joey, Casey and her friend's are here! " he called upstairs. "well get in her before you all freeze to death. Name's Johann, call me pap." He said introducing himself to Elliot and Olivia.

"Olivia Benson. Call me Liv" Olivia said with a smile

"Case, you better keep this one away from Luke" her father said with a wink.

"not his type. Luke only goes for blondes with huge fake boobs" Casey stated. Her father chuckled.

"common now, Gia's were real" he said

"guys, if mom heard you talking about boobs in her kitchen, she'd drop dead before she got to meet this sleeping beauty" Joe said as he walked down the stairs and gestured to the baby.

"Casey" he said with a smile "long time to see, huh Miss New York Novak?" he said with a smile. "com'er" he engulfed Casey In a hug. He towered over the tall women by at least 6 inches.

"I missed you Joe' Casey said into his chest, not breaking their hug.

"I missed you too" joe said.

Pap looked to Elliot. "well we haven't had a proper introduction yet have we? I'm Johann, call me pap."

"Elliot Stabler" Elliot said, giving Casey's father a firm handshake.

"say Elliot, you a fishing man?"

They began a conversation about fishing while joey held Cara.

"I swear case this was you when you were born." Joey said

"Case is he…" he looked over at Elliot.

"JOSEPH BARTHOLEMUE NOVAK! If you weren't holding my child I'd slap you. "

"I'll take that as a no. too bad, he seems like a good guy."

"He is, but he's like my brother."

"well I'll leave it alone then, but you know how luke'll be"

"he with someone?"

"ya. Her name's destiny."

"let me guess, bootle blonde, implants?"

"down to a tee"

At that moment her mother came downstairs.

"Casey" she said with a smile. They hugged and joey gave her Cara.

"Casey, she's the spitting image of you as a baby" her mother said.

"that's what I said!" joey said. Casey rolled her eyes.

"so are you going to introduce us?" her mother asked.

" Mom, this is Detective Olivia Benson and Detective Elliot Stabler. Dad's kinda chewing elliot's ear off right now though."

"Casey, are you and Elliot… is Elliot the baby's-"

"No! why does everyone think that?"

Her mom strugged. "too bad, he's quite the looker."

"MOM!"

"what?"

"uhh, nevermind. Let's change the subject." She said tuning to her brother. "where's Amanda and the kids?" she asked

"Over at Mike's. we're staying with him. Luke'S on his way over."

"great" Casey said sarcastically

The group was in the living room discussing random subjects when Luke came home.

"Hey Casey. Nice of you to show up" he said was he and a blonde took a seat in the living room.

"Nice to see you moved on after Mandy so quickly." She pocked back.

"it wasn't _so quickly_, you just haven't been around for a convenient nine months. Who're they"

"_They_ are Detectives Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler, and they could both kick your ass."

"Elliot the Dad?"

"oh my gosh, NO!" she said, tired of answering that question.

"then why you being so defensive? He Elliot, you every sleep with my sister?"

"Luke!" Casey, Beth, Pap, and joey yelled.

"no I have not." Elliot calmly answered.

"why not, you gay?" Luke asked

"no Luke he is not gay . unlike you, I just don't sleep with every person of the opposite sex that I meet." Casey said pissed.

"well clearly you do, or you wouldn't have a freaking kid"

"LUKE! Casey's parrent's and joe yelled.

"Go to hell!" Casey yelled as she stormed off.


	9. Chapter 9: Date

_**Author's Note**___ chapter 10 will start up where 8 left off, but for you F/M fans, this chapters a _meanwhile, at SVU_ I know it's pretty short, but I needed them to have a chapter already! enjoy~

And no, I'm not from Vt Ma, close enough;)

_**Disclaimer**___ I don't own any of the following material. The characters are a copyright of NBC/ Dick Wolf. The plot's all mine though

`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'``'

_**Meanwhile, back as SVU**_

"You guys get Pagento to cough up the location of the body?" Cragen asked as Munch and fin left the interrogation room.

"Yep. Some beat's are on it." Fin replied.

"good. You two go home and get some rest. It's late." Cragen said.

"Crap! What time is it?" Fin asked

"10:45" Munch replied.

"Crap. Alright I'll see ya in the mornin' "fin replied

"what's the matter? Late for a hot date?" munch teased

Fin smirked as he threw his coat on. "yeah"

"Ohh, do spill. Do I know her?"

Fin shrugged "sorry man, I'm late" he said as he left

Fin ran into his secret girlfriend's apartment. They'd been dating four months now and still, no one knew. "Mel, baby I'm SO sorry, Novak's temp was late so it took us forever to make a deal with one perp then we finally got his partner to confess and- " he was cut off by seeing his girlfriend in sexy red lingerie.

"I forgive you" she said with a seductive smile. "you can repay me with dinner tomorrow night" she said with a smile. "And by getting your overworked ass in bed"

"works for me" he said with a smile.

"fin, that was-"

"amazing" he cut her off.

"it was amazing… four times" she said with a wink.

"I love you Mel."

"I love you too Fin."

"No, I mean it Mel. I really, really love you. I'd take a bullet for you. I think I want to marry you."

"oh Fin! I want to marry you too!" she exclaimed hugging him.

"I just mean, not yet. I currently can't afford the rock you deserve. And I just want to make sure we want the same out of life. From Casey's party I know we both want kids. How many would you want?"

"I was an only child, and it sucked. At least two, maybe three" Melinda replied.

Fin chuckled. "I was one of 8, so I definitely don't want more than three" he said with a smile.

"good. So it's settled. Two or three."

"cats or dogs?" he asked

"both. But with kids, I'd definitely prefer a dog."

"dog. Cool" fin said with a smile.

"one more. When are we going to tell everyone about _us_?" fin asked

"Soon. When Casey liv and Elliot get back we should all go out to dinner and tell them there. Definitely before any life plans become official." She said with a wink and a smile.

"Melinda, do you even know how absolutely beautiful you are?" fin asked.

"Only cuz you tell me constantly. Do you have any idea how charming you are?" she asked him

"Only because you inform me daily" he winked.

"we should move in together." Melinda suggested. She sounded pretty confident, but she was really scared of scarring him off.

"My place or yours?" fin asked without hesitation.

"Oh Fin!" she yelled as she hugged him. "I love you!"

"I love you too Mel" he said as they hugged.

"let's move in here. It's bigger, it's rent controlled, and it's two bedrooms. For the future " she said with a smile.

"mel, I really do love you'

"I know" she smile "I really so love_ you_"


	10. Chapter 10: Ice cream

_**Author's Note**___ this is starting where chapter eight left off.

_**Disclaimer**___ I don't own any of the following material. The characters are a copyright of NBC/ Dick Wolf. The plot's all mine though

`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'``'

The room was silent and awkward after Casey stormed out.

"Proud Luke? Now I have to og fix your mistake, again. She doesn't need that right now, she needs support. If your not going to support her, the leave." Joe said as he left after Casey.

"Lucas, the baptism's tomorrow at 2. You need to be there. Be on your best behavior, and NO FIGHTING or bickering. If that means no talking to her, so be it. Goodbye" Beth said.

Luke just got up and left.

"I should go tal-" Olivia began before she was cut off

"no, joe's got it. He always knew what to say to calm her down." Beth said. "Olivia dear, could you help me with some dishes?"

"Sure" Olivia said getting up off the couch as she and beth got up to do the dishes, leaving Elliot and Pap alone to talk, probably about golf or fishing.

Once they were alone I the kitchen and the dishes were finished, beth turned to Olivia to talk to her.

"Olivia, do you know who Cara's father is?"

"No, I never met him. They dated for a little while. Casey said he left when she found out she was pregnant." Olivia answered.

"hm. She told me they were engaged."

"oh, um well they prob-"

"Olivia you don't have to lie for her. I don't really care that much, you know? Casey thinks I do. I feel like she's hiding something. She just, she's so worried I'll judge her and hate her. She's my only daughter Olivia. How could I hate her? "

"she just really wants you to be proud of her" Olivia answered honestly.

"I know hubris is a sin, but I brag about her all the time. She's my little girl. We raised her to be accustomed to quiet country life. Then she just up and goes off to New York City to study law. Now our little farmer girl's working for the Manhattan DA's office, putting away the worst criminals there are. We're so proud of her, but I don't think she know's that. Don't tell anyone I said this, but she could, loose her job and her home, move in with us, make us raise her baby , and become a hooker and she'd still have accomplished more in her life than Luke has. That's why he's so cruel to her. I love all my children to death, but Luke just doesn't know when to stop, and, as you saw, their little tiffs end up hurting each other. "

"she's a wonderful person. She loves you guys a lot. I can tell she really misses you. She just doesn't want you to be ashamed of her."

Their conversation ended when Casey and Joey walked back inside, laughing. They had red noses from being out in the cold. Beth turned instantly into an over protective mother.

"Have you two been outside all this time?" she asked

"mom, where do you think our little Casey went when she was pissed off other than O'Malley's Ice Cream Shoppe. A small banana ice cream later and it's all better" he said with a wink.

"oh, shuddup, I wanted to see if they were still open" Casey said giving Joe a light slap.

"That, or did you just want to look into David O'Malley's big chocolate brown eyes?" Joey asked sayin the phrase 'big chocolate brown eyes' like a love struck teen.

"Casey do you still have a crush on that boy? I remember he took you to the prom. You know you broke that boy's heart when you went off to NYU. You know he's still single? And he asks about you whenever we bring the kids over for ice creams" beth said

Casey blushed. "Mom-"

"oh Casey calm down it's not like I'm arranging your marriage. I just saying, while your I town throw the kid a bone. At least go to dinner with him." Beth suggested.

"that's a great idea! I'll dial for you so you can set it up!" Joe said as he grabbed the phone.

"joey don-" he held the recievr to her ear

"joey im not going out with him just because you- hello? Um hi Dave it's Casey. Ha, yeah. Listen I was just wondering if you wanted to go out to dinner tonight. Great. Yeah. Ok I'll see you at 7." She hung up the phone. "Joey I hate you."

"no you don't. you quite thankful I set this up. If you didn't want to go out with him tonight then you wouldn't have set it up."

"he was on the other line, what was I going to say?"

"you could've said something else and you know it. Face it kid, you LIKE him!"

"you're such a child joseph, I swear." Casey muttered as she left the room.


	11. Chapter 11: Date

_**Author's Note**___ this is starting with Casey and Dave O'Malley's date. I realized I made a LOT of spelling errors last time. Sorry! I know that tends to irk people, so I'll be more careful in the future. Enjoy

_**Disclaimer**___ I don't own any of the following material. The characters are a copyright of NBC/ Dick Wolf. The plot's all mine though

`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'``'

Casey and David O'Malley sat at the _Bella's_, a nice Italian restaurant located in the town west of Elliston.

"So I see you're still working at the old family ice cream shop" Casey said with a smile.

David laughed. "Actually, I'm now the owner of the 'old family ice cream shop'. Have been ever since my dad died."

"My mom told me about that. I'm so sorry. I would've come up for the funeral, but I-"

"Hey, don't worry about it. It's fine. It was a heart attack. Before that he was in pretty good health, so it was kind of a shock. He didn't even have a will prepared. My mom divided up his things. She's too old to take care of the shop, Maeve now resides at the convent, Shea is married with a crap load of kids and no free time to take care of the shop, Matty and Patty are Matty and Patty so of course neither of them are responsible enough to take it, so Mary and mum begged me to take it. Course I'm 27 and single, so I figure why not put something of value into my life. How about you, though? How's life been treating you? God Casey, I haven't seen you since-"

"August 17th eight years ago. The day I left for New York. " There was a moment of awkward silence.

"So what do you do?"

"I'm a lawyer."

He laughed. "Aren't lawyer's supposed to be heartless?" he asked, trying to make a joke.

"Not when you're working with kids and rape victims" she muttered.

"Hmm?"

"Oh- ah, nothing. I'm a prosecutor for the Manhattan District Attorney's office. I work Special Victims Unit." She said, hoping he'd have no idea what they did.

"Rapes all day? Fun." He answered back. _of course he'd know what we did_ she thought. _He'd Davey-the-human-encyclopedia. You're the one who always used to call him that._ She decided it was best to change the topic, but he beat her to it.

"So, when I picked you up, was that your kid?" he asked kind of awkwardly.

"Yeah. Cara."

"She's beautiful. Looks just like you."

Casey smiled. "Thanks."

"So that guy who's ear your dad was chewing off, is he the-"

"NO! Why does_ everyone _assume Elliot's the dad?"

"So he's not?"

"No. I'm a single mom."

"Oh. Well whoever he is he didn't deserve you or Cara anyway. Let me know if you ever need anything, or if you just need to talk. Or if you need a ride to the batting cages." He said with a wink.

She laughed. "Yeah, that's still my form of blowing off steam. I missed you Davey."

"I've missed you too, Casey." He laughed. "Ha, I haven't been called Davey in a while"

She smile.

The waitress came over with their food and they ate, paid, and left. Being the gentleman he is, David wouldn't allow Casey to pay for dinner. Excuse was that she 'had diapers to pay for'. He drove her to her parent's house.

"I feel like we're 16 again and I'm dropping you off too late so you've got to sneak in" Dave said, earning a chuckle from Casey. "Here let me walk you in."

It was pouring outside so they ran to the protection of the farmer's porch. They were laughing their asses off. Casey was enjoying the fact that this was the first time in a while she'd felt safe while alone with a man.

"Hey, the reason I'm up here I because Cara's getting baptized tomorrow at 2pm. If you wanted to come, I'd appreciate it." Casey said.

"I'd love to" he said with a smile. Then, as if it was as natural as when they were teens, he leaned in for a kiss. It was long, and pretty good. God, Casey missed him. They smiled at each other and exchanged good bye-s. Casey felt like she was on cloud nine as she strolled into her house.


	12. Chapter 12: Baptism

_**Author's Note**___ Ok so I was watching 'Torch' and I realized that Joe Marlowe is a hard ass! Like holy crap I love this lady! Seriously watch that episode. It's beast. And she has all these little comments that are mega witty. I like Anyway; this is the morning of Cara's Christening. Melinda and Elliot are the godparents.

_**Disclaimer**___ I don't own any of the following material. The characters are a copyright of NBC/ Dick Wolf. The plot's all mine though

`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'``'

Casey woke up to the smell of blueberry muffins._ Oh mom._ She thought. She got out of bed and changed and fed Cara. The little girl smiled up at her mother.

"Come on Cara, you want to go see your family?" Casey cooed to Cara as the baby laughed. Casey grabbed Cara and headed downstairs. She was greeted by her parents, Elliot, Olivia, Melinda and Fin.

"Hey Fin! Great to see you could come up" Casey said with a smile.

"Yeah I figured Mel could use someone to drive with her." He answered. Casey nodded. She had he suspicions, but they could wait until later.

"Casey, have a muffin. Don't worry we have your cream cheese" Beth said with a tray of muffins in hand.

"Cream cheese?" the SVU-ers all asked confused.

Casey shrugged. "Butter on muffins is way too clichéd. I prefer cream cheese."

"What else don't we know about New York Novak?" Elliot asked with a wink.

Casey rolled her eyes at the nick name "Let's all pretend I was never called that ever. It's getting really annoying having every Christmas card and letter I receive addressed to New York Novak." The group laughed.

After breakfast, everyone dresses and got ready for the baptism. Casey and Cara rode with Melinda and Fin so she could catch them up while Elliot and Olivia rode with Casey's parents.

"So, what have you two been up to lately?" Casey nonchalantly asked Melinda and Fin.

They both got immediately flustered. "we- ah, what? N-nothing! What do you mean?" they both asked.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Casey said, smirking.

The rest of the car ride was awkward and silent. They finally arrived at the church… there was a full house.

"Mom, who did you invite?" Casey asked

"Oh Case, you know word travels fast in small towns. There're a lot of people that wanted to see you since they haven't in a while."

"Fun" Casey muttered under her breath.

"Oh, come on Casey it won't be that bad." Melinda said encouragingly.

Casey grabbed Cara, who was looking adorable in her white dress. Olivia, Casey's parents, and fin took their seats in the front rows along with the rest of Casey's brother's and their families. Casey, Elliot, and Melinda were up on the altar with the priest as the ceremony began.

"Good morning. Today we are celebrating the sacrament of baptism. We are welcoming a new member into our church…" the priest delivered his little speech and before you know it, Melinda was holding Cara over a marble sink of water while the priest poured some on her head. "I baptize you in the name of the father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Cara fussed a little as the cold water hit her head, but Casey had seen babies react worse. Afterwards, Casey , Cara, the SVU crew, and Casey's family headed to Casey's parent's house for a family gathering. However, more than family came. Casey was running into people she hadn't seen in years. High school friends and high school enemies, even the kids she used to babysit! But by around 8:30 the only people left were her family. Beth, Pap, Joe, Amanda, Mike, Sarah, Tom, Mary Anne, Luke, Destiny, Casey, Elliot, Olivia, Melinda, and fin were all seated in the living room. Cara was asleep upstairs. Olivia got up and went to the kitchen, where she was greeted by a young girl with scarlet red hair. The girl was sitting alone in a chair.

"Hey there" Olivia said with a smile.

"Hi. I'm Katie." The girl said.

"Olivia."

"that's a pretty name. If patty had been a girl his name would'a been either Christina, Bernadette, or Olivia." She informed her.

"Is patty your brother?" Olivia asked.

"yeah, he's four and eats crayons"

"Well that's not good."

"no, but sometimes it makes his poop turn red or blue or green and that's funny." She said with a laugh. "Olivia, could you get me some pie? I'm not allowed to touch the knife." She asked.

"sure" Olivia said. As soon as she turned around, a remote controlled car buzzed around the corner, tripping Olivia and causing her to go face first into Mary Anne's homemade Banana Cream Pie.

"Olivia! Are you okay?" Katie asked.

"I'll be fine. Can you grab me a towel?"

Katie handed Olivia the towel she had ready. Olivia wiped her face with it and soon felt something sticky.

"Kait, what's all over this towel?"

"Opps! That's the towel we used when we were making sundaes. It has hot fudge and carmel all over it."

"here, grab me some water." Olivia said, trying not to get mad. After all, it wasn't like the girl was doing this on purpose.

"here's a glass of water" Kaitlynn said handing Olivia the glass. Olivia threw the contents of the glass onto her face.

"Hot. Coffee."

"Sorry! Here's the movable hose from the sink" Kaitlynn turned around to give her the hose, but in the process completely soaked Olivia from head to toe.

"Sorry!" Kaitlynn yelled

"Guys whats all the commotion- geese Liv, get hungry?" Elliot asked as he noted the variety of foods Olivia was topped with.

Beth and Casey walked in as well. Casey took one look at Olivia and immediately recognized this as Katie's handy work.

"Kaitlynn Faith Novak, what did you do?" Casey asked

"It wasn't her fault, she was only trying to help" Olivia said.

"like you were only trying to help Luke's girlfriend last year when she 'fell' into the pool?" Casey asked

"yeah, sort of like that" Kaitlynn answered.

"Come here deary I'll get you a towel." Beth said assisting Olivia. Just the Christopher made an entrance.

"What happened in here?" he asked.

Elliot chuckled. "That red headed mastermind unleashed her powers on my partner" he said.

"Ha, that's Katie for ya. You want a coke?"

"Sure" the boy handed Elliot a coke. As soon as he opened it, it exploded In his face. Kaitlynn and Christopher immediately erupted in laughter.

"Two down, two to go!" Chris announced.

"I warned you guys, they're evil geniuses. I'm going to go warn Mel and Fin." Casey said

~"~"~"~"

"And remember when you were eight and Jonny Coldwater made fun of Luke so you beat the crap out of him!" Joey asked Casey, as the family reminisced their childhood.

Casey giggled uncontrollably. Once the kids went to bed, the group had secretly made a drinking game of taking a shot every time Pap tried to engage someone in a conversation about fishing or golfing. Needless to say, the majority of the group was drunk.

"And he threatened to tell mom so you booked it home!" Luke added.

"H-hey ssssss-shuddup!" Casey slurred.´"I wash defenden' yo asssss"

"Case you are so drunk!" Tom yelled.

"So yoooou gooooottt soooo druuunk on yourr prom niiight that I, I-I h-ad tooo goo gettt youhh!" Casey slurred.

Beth gave her son a death glare that the SVU-ers clearly recognized to be one of Casey's traits.

"uhh, common case let's get you to bed before you say anything else" Tommy said as he and Mike both grabbed one side of Casey and helped her upstairs.

~"~"~"~"~"

Casey woke up to a screaming baby and a wicked hangover. She fed and changed Cara and brought her downstairs. Beth offered to watch her granddaughter while Casey took a shower. Casey headed upstairs to wake up Mel . She had told her that she should wake her up early so she could be ready for their mandatory Sunday mass. Casey opened the door.

"Come on guys, wakey wak-" she was cut off when she found a naked Melinda and Fin in Melinda's bed together. Melinda woke up in time to see a stunned Casey Novak at the door.

"Casey! Oh my God, um, this isn't, we're not-" Melinda began. Casey just shut the door behind her and walked away wide eyed.

~"~"~"~"~

Ok I want four reviews before my nest update please help to make that happen


	13. Chapter 13: File

_**Author's Note**___ hey guys! Ok, so I'm CRAZY SORRY about the long wait! I Had a death in my family, my basketball team made it to semifinals, and I've been receiving boatloads of homework! I'll try to post as many as possible during February vacation.

_**Disclaimer**___ I don't own any of the following material. The characters are a copyright of NBC/ Dick Wolf. The plot's all mine though

`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'``'

Fin and Melinda walked downstairs- fully clothed- twenty minutes later. Everyone was ready for mass and eating some of Beth's homemade blueberry pancakes.

"Lots of blueberry foods lately. You and dad go picking?" Casey asked.

"Yeah, we took some of the kids. They had a great time. I can't wait until Cara's old enough to go. I remember you always used to love blueberry picking." Her mother replied.

"Yeah, but Tommy always used to eat all of mine before we got home." The group laughed as they noticed Fin and Melinda come downstairs.

"Hey you two, what were you up to that took you so long?" Casey asked, with a taunting look that said 'guess who has blackmail?'

Melinda immediately blushed. "We, um, nothing" she blurted out.

"We had to finish packing" Fin answered seeing her panic.

"Everyone ready for mass?" Beth asked.

"~"~"~"~"~"~"

The group left the mass and got ready to leave for New York. Casey exchanged goodbyes with her family while everyone else put their bags away. She promised her parents that she'd call more often and try to visit more. She hugged Joey, who was also getting ready to leave also.

"hey, promise me that if your ever in trouble or need help- with life or with Cara- you'll call me, ok?" Joey requested.

"Joey, yes. You make me promise you that like every time I see you." Casey complained playfully.

"Yeah, but you didn't call me what your douche bag boyfriend left you alone and pregnant, so how am I supposed to believe you?" he asked seriously.

"I was fine." She responded in an empty monotone.

"You're always 'fine'. Just, make sure he never gets to meet my angel of a niece."

Casey laughed without humor. "He wouldn't ever want to… I hope"

They hugged and were interrupted by Elliot. "Hey Case, you riding with us or Fin and Mel?" He asked

"I'll ride with them. We've got some talking to do" she said looking at the M.E. and the detective. Elliot was curious but agreed. He and Olivia left, followed by the car containing Casey, Fin, Melinda, and a sleeping Cara. Once they hit the highway, Casey began to talk.

"Ok, spill." Casey said. "How long?"

"How do you know it wasn't just drunk sex?" Melinda asked. Casey gave her a look that said 'come on let's be serious'

"Four months" Fin said. "We were planning on inviting everyone to dinner sometime this week"

"Well my lips will be sealed." Casey promised. Just then they heard a phone ringing. Fin recognized it as his, so he put it on the dashboard phone clip and put it on speaker, since he was driving.

"Tutuola" he answered formally.

"Hey Fin it's Liv. El and I got a call from the captain. There's a town upstate that has Segal in custody. From that case last month, remember? Anyway, El and I are going to go pick him up so we'll probably be a little latter than you guys." Olivia said

"Alright. Good luck" Fin responded.

"Thanks" Olivia said and then hung up.

"~""~"~"~"~"~

"How can I help you?" A man at the desk at Albany SVU asked Elliot and Olivia. They flashed him their badges and responded.

"Detectives Benson and Stabler. We're here to pick up a perp. Name's Phil Segal."

"Detective Williams has an office down the hall and to your right" the young man replied.

"Thanks" the pair said as they headed off to see Detective Williams. They entered his office and introduced themselves.

"His file is somewhere on that desk, along with a few others from this past year. I have to go out on a call. My partner's the next door down if you need any help. Take care." Detective Williams said.

"You too" Elliot said as he began to search through files.

"El" Olivia said worriedly

"What?" he asked, walking over to her end of the disorganized file table. Olivia handed him a file she had found. He opened it and went through it.

"Oh my God." He said as he looked it over.


	14. Chapter 14: Dinner

_**Author's Note**___ hey guys! Sorry for the cliff hanger! So here's the next chapter!

_**Disclaimer**___ I don't own any of the following material. The characters are a copyright of NBC/ Dick Wolf. The plot's all mine though

`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'``'

Elliot and Olivia held in their hands a case file. The File showed pictures of a badly beaten woman. The woman had been raped… 10 months ago. The woman was none other than their own Casey Novak. They were speechless.

Olivia was the first to speak. "El, look the date of the rape. 10 months ago, almost. Cara… she's almost a month old."

"Casey's boyfriend didn't leave her. She didn't even have one." Elliot said blankly.

"We don't know that, El. Maybe her boyfriend did it. The case is still open. Maybe-"

"maybe nothing Olivia. This isn't our case. She didn't want us to know. We shouldn't be looking at this" Elliot said throwing the file down and searching quickly through the others. "damn it! Where's the Segal file!" he yelled as his temper got the best of him.

"El-"

"Olivia It's not our damn case it's none of our damn business!" He yelled. He took a calming breath. "Look, let's just go."

They grabbed their perp and their file and were on their way. Their car ride was silent. They arrived at the 1-6 an hour later.

"How'd it go?" Munch asked while Elliot threw Segal into a cell.

"Fine" Elliot and Olivia answered in an angry tone.

"Hey guys!" Fin said as he entered. "I wanted to see if we could all go to dinner Friday night. You know, us four, captain, Casey, Huang, and Mel".

"sure" Olivia said uninterested.

"What's her problem?" Fin quietly asked Elliot. Olivia still heard him and looked up. Upon seeing this, Elliot replied, "She just can't stand it when she can't dig into other peoples business."

"~"~"~"~"~"

The week went by pretty fast. Elliot and Olivia were still mad at each other and not talking to each other. Casey wasn't around the precinct because she had 4 more weeks of maternity leave. Friday rolled around, and the group was out for dinner.

"Hey guys!" Melinda greeted as she met her friends. "Where's Cara?"

"I left her with a sitter" Casey responded. Melinda nodded and the group were led to their table. They ordered and began some small talk- all except for Elliot and Olivia, who were still sitting quietly. Melinda made an attempt to break the awkwardness.

"So, Olivia, do you know what you're getting?" she asked.

"Probably the lobster roll. The woman over there has it and it looks pretty good." She replied.

"Yes, and we all know how much Olivia loves to snoop in on other people's private business." Elliot chimed in. Olivia shot him a dirty look.

"Elliot, could I speak to you for a minute?" She asked. Olivia and Elliot walked into the short hall that the table was about 8 feet from and began to speak in hushed tones.

"Alright Elliot cut the crap, if you've got something to say to me that say it to my face" Olivia ordered.

"I do have something to say to you. You need to forget we even saw that file. It's none of our business. She doesn't want us to know or she wouldn't have told us" Elliot replied.

"El! It doesn't matter. She needs help. Who cares if she wasn't going to tell us! We know now and you can't undo that!" She said, getting louder. "Besides, don't you at least think Cara has a right to know?"

"Liv, she's a baby!" said, also getting pretty loud, but still lesser than the tones of restaurant clatter. "Casey will probably tell her when she's old enough"

"But if she didn't tell us, even after 10 months, do you really think she'll ever tell Cara? She has a right to know"

"Liv, is that what this is all about? Listen, Cara isn't you."

Olivia rolled her eyes. "Elliot, all that aside, I'm not just going to pretend that we don't know Cara's the product of a rape!" Olivia yelled-too loud. Everyone at the table turned their attention to the two. There was a moment of silence before a numb looking Casey jumped up from the table and ran away.

"Casey! Casey!" Olivia yelled as she chased her friend. No use. Casey was gone.

"Shit." Olivia muttered.


	15. Chapter 15: Comfort

_**Author's Note**___Sorry for the short update I just figured to do another while I had time.

_**Disclaimer**___ I don't own any of the following material. The characters are a copyright of NBC/ Dick Wolf. The plot's all mine though

`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`

Olivia sprinted out of the restaurant in a desperate pursuit of Casey.

"Casey! Casey!" she yelled once the woman was in her sight. "Casey…" she began as she place a hand gently on Casey's shoulder. Casey flinched away in fear.

"Please! Please don't touch me…" Casey said through tears.

Olivia immediately took her hand back and spoke. "Casey I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for-"

"how?" Casey interrupted. Olivia looked confused. "How did you find out?" Casey asked.

"Albany SVU had your file out when we went to get a perp"

"Fucking bunch of morons"

"Casey-"

"Just leave me alone Olivia. You've done enough for one night." Casey said as she walked away.

~"~"~"~"~"~"~"

_Knock, knock, knock._

"Case?"

_Knock, knock, knock._

Elliot used his key to Casey's apartment to open her door. He walked in to her crying on the couch curled up in a ball with Cara in her arms.

"Hey Case" he said gently as he took a seat in a nearby rocking chair. "Listen, It's none of our business and I wish we hadn't even seen the file. I'm so sorry that everyone had to find out- especially like this."

Casey sat still hugging her sleeping baby in her arms.

"I'm going to go now. Let you think. Let me know if you want to talk, or if you need help, or if you're looking for someone to take the baby" he said as he got up. He crossed Casey on his way out and she looked up and grabbed his arm.

"Elliot- help me" She said crying.

"Can I see Cara?" he asked _gently_.

Casey looked down at her sleeping baby and kissed her forehead. She then handed her to Elliot. Elliot put Cara in her crib, then returned to Casey.

"Elliot… I can't sleep, I hate to eat, I have nightmares, I think about it all the time, the images won't go away, I can't stop being afraid of_ everyone_, and sometimes when I cant sleep or when Cara's asleep or when I think of _it__, _i sit by the phone for hours dialing half of Albany SVU's number, but then I think _no Casey, if they find him they'll call you_. But then I think _what if they lost my number_ or_ what if they're not ready to go to court_ and I just REALLY need to know! But I never call an I sit there and feel dumb and…" Casey trailed off from her fast talking rant and buried herself into Elliot's torso.

"Shhh" he whispered as he rubbed gentle circles into her back.


	16. Chapter 16: Sleep&ASummary up to Chap 15

A/N: I'm back baby! Ok, I suck sooooo bad for making you wait this long for an update, and I suck even more for making it so short. It's been a while, so here's a basic summary of what happened in the last 15 Chapters:

SO everyone's stuck in the precinct because of a blizzard, including a very pregnant and single Casey. She has her baby (Cara), they go to visit her family for the baptism, which makes for some awkward conversations with her brothers, as well as a sweet date with an old flame. On the ride back, Elliot and Olivia discover something about Casey at Albany SVU. While at a dinner that was SUPPOSED TO be all about Felinda, Elliot and Olivia get into a loud argument and accidentally tell everyone Casey was raped, which makes for a _very _angry Casey. Then it's Elliot to the rescue, comforting Casey at her place… and here we are-

Casey woke up to the sound of her crying baby. She immediately realized she wasn't in her bed, but had slept all night in the comforting arms of Elliot Stabler. Then she realized something else- she had actually _slept_ last night. She couldn't decide which was stranger- the fact that She had slept without nightmares or the fact that _Cara_ had slept all night. She rose to get her daughter, but was stopped by Elliot's arm on her shoulder.

"I got her, Case" he offered as he rose.

"Elliot, no, you don't have to do that" She said

He smiled, "I've been doing it all night, I can handle one more changing" he said with a smile.

"Oh, Elliot, I'm so sorry! How many times did she get up? Because usually she-"

"Casey, it' fine. I knew you were having trouble sleeping, so I decided to give you the night off. How'd you sleep?"

"Actually, really well. For the first time in a while" Casey admitted.

"Casey, as much as you just _hate_ to admit it, you need a day to yourself. I could take Cara and-" Casey cut Elliot off

"No" She said, "I need Cara. Please, El, she keeps me… calm. She gives me something to focus on. Or else I get lost in thoughts. To be honest, her crying usually wakes me up from the worst parts of my nightmares. She's like… fate's way of making this whole thing a little bit easier"

Elliot smiled at Casey. "I'm just glad you have a way to make his a little bit easier" he said.

"Um, I might have another way"

"Which would be?"

"El, I know it's out of your jurisdiction, but Albany only has a 13% closure rate, whereas Manhattan SVU has-"

"Casey, would you like us to take on your case?" Elliot asked, jumping onto her train of thought.

Casey nodded shyly. "Could you?"

Elliot smiled. "I think I can pull a few strings"

0o0

What do you think? Please review! This was dedicated to dove in love, you have her to thank for the update Hope she updates What I've Done, it's really good you guys should check it out


	17. Chapter 17: Miracle

A/N: Kind of a skatter brain chapter that I felt you needed because I tend to abandon this story with updates. Just basically a filler until I finish the next really chapter (you know, the kind that actually has a plot). Just basically a bunch of her thoughts, it's pretty short, I know and I'm sorry P.S., I know who her rapist is, do you? Speculate and review please

Casey was at the park playing with Cara when she heard her phone ring.

"Hello?" Casey called into the receiver of her phone.

"hey case, it' El"

"Hey, El, any news?"

"We got your Case" He said.

"Really?" Casey asked, "That fast?"

"Yeah, turns out Albany SVU is dealing with a serial rapist and a string of kidnappings at the moment, and your case was about to go cold. They were more than happy to hand it over"

Casey let out a sigh of relief. "So, do you need me down there?" She asked

"In a few days, they're sending us the case file and their notes"

Casey took a deep breath. She wasn't so sure she wanted Manhattan SVU to investigate this anymore. She wondered if going through every detail of what had happened to her with the people she had to see every day was the best thing for her to do. She had a reasoning that once her rapist was caught and in jail, the nightmares would end. The fear of every man she was near would end. The jumping every time a car backfired would end. In her mind, she felt that once her rapist was behind bars, she would be back to normal.

But he knew this wasn't true.

She knew she would have to tell her story to all the detectives she worked with every day. She knew she'd have to tell it in court- in front of a jury of strangers, a judge that she'd have to appear in front of for the rest of her career, and a defense attorney that was going to try and make her out to be a liar or a whore. She knew this was going to be hell.

She was really starting to second guess having Manhattan SVU running this case. She didn't want them combing through her every move, every case, every ex-boyfriend, every possible enemy.

But in the end, it would all be worth it if she could save another person from falling victim.

"Thanks, El" Casey said, hanging up the phone. She looked down at her little Cara, who was playing with a stick. Casey smiled. She remember one of her mother's favorite sayings, _A miracle is an extremely wonderful outcome in an extremely terrible situation._ Cara, by this definition, was a miracle. From all of the trauma, emotionally, mentally, and physically, Cara had emerged a happy and healthy baby. She made her mother feel happy and safe, like everything would be okay. If this beautiful child could be the product of such a terrible act, then surely Casey could pull through all the PTSD to lead a normal life once again. Cara seemed to show her that everything would be alright. Instead of reminding Casey of that terrible event, she reminded of the good that can come from evil.


End file.
